We'll use the Cross_003 prop located in the 3D Blocks prop folder as our aiming site:
1. Double-click on the Cross_003 prop in the 3D Blocks folder to load it into the workspace and position the prop as in the following image:
2. Attach the cross prop to the cylinder.
3. Rerun the simulation several times till you see a pattern develop then stop the simulation on one of those recognizable patterns as we are trying to get an aiming point set. Back up the simulation to a point where the ball is in front of the arches.
4. Select the ball prop, right-click on it and remove all animation.
5. Move the time scrubber back to the first frame.
6. Select the Aiming Dummy and move it over to the ball as shown in the following image:
7. Select the ball prop.
8. Click on the Reset button located in the Transform section of the right side menu, as shown in the following image to place it back at its original location:
9. Select the cylinder, right-click on it and select the Remove All Animation option to remove all animation from the cylinder.
10. Use the rotate tool to move the cylinder till the Aiming Dummy is lined up as shown in the following image;
11. We lost our impact animation when we removed the cylinders animation so we need to move the time scrubber down to frame 20 and set the cylinder location as follows:
Move: X= -35.7, Y=42.2, Z=44.2
12. Save the project file and run the simulation.
The following image shows the best case result after aligning the Aiming Dummy. Depending on velocity the aim should be more accurate now:
We added a cross shaped prop for a crosshair. Then we attached that prop to the cylinder for aiming but we had to align the cross with the cylinder for the rig to shoot where the Aiming Dummy was located.
It wouldn't be that difficult to make a cannon or artillery piece fire using the same method as we just discovered.